West Ham Player Grades After Tottenham Thumping
By Adam Smith
West Ham needed a better effort than what they showed against Wolves to get a result or at least inspire confidence in the team. They failed to do so, and their grades reflect it.
Sure, West Ham have injuries and sure, Tottenham are much better than this current amalgamation of Hammers players, but there is no excuse to show up and play in a London Derby the way David Moyes’ men did against Spurs.
Moyes is a completely different issue all by himself. Completely tactically inept and unable to make substitutions to impact the game, Moyes failed his team as much as they failed him today.
Anyways, here are the player grades from this disappointing result:
Lukasz Fabianski – 7/10: It’s hard to effectively grade a keeper who allowed two goals, but one was an own goal and the other was England’s starting striker in along on him for 40 yards. His clearances were good on set pieces and he made some smart plays, like when Diop sent a rocket back to his chest. Not his fault today.
Ryan Fredericks – 4.5/10: Fredericks got the start signalling the end of Jeremy Ngakia’s time at the club. He looked gassed after sprints, didn’t get forward too much, and took to long to come back when he did. Not his best showing, but a difficult task.
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Issa Diop – 5/10: Normally a bad grade, but after his awful match against Wolves Diop was much better today despite the similar scoreline. He needs to be more assertive in the air and can still improve plenty.
Fabian Balbuena – 6.5/10: West Ham’s best defender by a far bargain. He’s out of favour with Moyes but proved he can be relied upon today, although he’ll give you a heart attack at least once per game.
Aaron Cresswell – 4.5/10: In his defence, Cresswell played centre-back and left-back all while having no one to cross the ball to. He wasn’t a spark plug but made some fine tackles. This is what we get from him, I suppose.
Mark Noble – 3/10: Mr. West Ham was awful today, with errant passing and very little offered from the middle of the pitch. He shouldn’t have started and he should have been off at half time. use him sparingly.
Declan Rice – 9/10: Maybe he looked so good because others looked so poor, but Rice returned to the midfield and was absolutely everywhere. He’s far too good for this team and this relegation battle. He needs to be the captain moving forward.
Tomas Soucek – 6/10: He opened his Premier League account in this match, just by way of an own goal. It was unlucky and not his fault. he ran hard today and played much better with Lanzini in front of him instead of Noble.
Pablo Fornals – 4/10: He missed one of the best chances of the game alone in front of goal to take the lead but was buried at left-back for most of the match. A victim of circumstance, Fornals was not very good today.
Jarrod Bowen – 7/10: He has the work rate, heart, and skill to carry the team but couldn’t overcome a lacklustre offence playing around him today. Bowen always looks up for it and is a player to build a team around.
Michail Antonio – 4.5/10: I suppose I graded him this high because he literally ran his legs off but he shouldn’t have started nor should he have played that many minutes. He also showed zero awareness on Kane’s goal and actively hurt the team today.
Substitutes:
Felipe Anderson – 2/10: He was as disinterested as he showed against Wolves. Glimpses of creativity sprouted when he actually ran with the ball, but he’d rather stop and slow down play then spur it forward. Bad passing, too.
Manuel Lanzini – 5/10: I wouldn’t have expected this, but Lanzini looked great off the bench. I would imagine we see him start against Chelsea and this should be heralded as a good thing!